“Quest for Refuge is a thoroughly researched and well-informed history of the development of Mormon doctrines of religious and political anti-pluralism and their impact on Mormon/non-Mormon relations in the East and Midwest. It is doubtful that any scholar or layman has as thorough a grasp of the primary sources of the Joseph Smith period as Marvin Hill." —Thomas G. Alexander, Professor of History, Brigham Young University, and author, Mormonism in Transition

“In this first-class historical account, Marvin Hill argues that theocratic anti-pluralism was fundamental to the early Mormon experience and constituted ‘the main cause of persecution’ which Mormons essentially brought upon themselves. Hill’s candid narrative is balanced and fair, free of either pro- or anti-Mormon apologetic. Hill adds depth to his analysis by connecting Mormon anti-pluralism not only with theology but also with class structure and bias, politics, and

economics. In a word, Hill’s book is a splendid contribution to Mormon historiography." —–Richard T. Hughes, Professor of Religion, Pepperdine University, and co-author, Illusions of Innocence: Protestant Primitivism in America, 1630-1875

“Hill’s impressive study carefully outlines early Mormonism’s basic animosity towards a diversity of religious beliefs. Early Latter-day Saints believed that they would not only determine the course of worldwide religious belief but hold all secular political power. Hill’s book is essential reading." —Newell G. Bringhurst, Professor of History, College of the Sequoias, and author, Brigham Young and the Expanding American Frontier

“Inundated by a virtual avalanche of books on Mormonism, weary readers may well ask if one more interpretation of early Mormon history is really necessary. In the case of Marvin Hill’s Quest for Refuge, the answer is an emphatic yes. Hill shows convincingly that although the Mormons were not the only antebellum Americans to fear pluralism and its consequences, they were perhaps more profoundly affected by this fear than any other religious denomination. Erudite and imaginative, Hill’s work is stimulating, perhaps even controversial, and a major contribution to the on-going quest for a better understanding of one of the most significant—if puzzling—religious and cultural movements of nineteenth-century America.” —Klaus J. Hansen, Professor of History, Queen’s University, Ontario, and author, Mormonism and the American Experience

Marvin S. Hill

Signature Books
Salt Lake City
1989

about the author
Marvin S. Hill is a Professor of American History at Brigham Young University. He is co-author, with Dallin H. Oaks, of Carthage Conspiracy: The Trial of the Accused Assassins of Joseph Smith, winner of the 1975 Best Book Award from the Mormon History Association; with C. Keith Rooker and Larry T. Wimmer, of The Kirtland Economy Revisited: A Market Critique of Sectarian Economics; and co-editor, with James B. Allen, of Mormonism and American Culture. He is married to Lila Foster. They have six children and currently reside in Provo, Utah.

jacket flap
The culmination of more than twenty-five years of research by one of Mormonism’s premier historians, this insightful new interpretation of the Latter-day Saint movement explains Mormon religious and political developments in terms of class struggle and a rejection of American pluralism. According to Hill, the Mormon attempt to develop a communal utopia under a theocratic government during the 1830s and early 1840s was in large measure a reaction to the diminishing role of religion in an emerging democratic, competitive, and increasingly secular world. Quest for Refuge skillfully details the religious, economic, political, social, and psychological challenges facing Joseph Smith and other early Mormons in their attempt to build a New Jerusalem in anticipation of the second coming of Jesus Christ.

“From 1827 on,” Hill writes, “Joseph Smith had little good to say about contemporary religion, and his calling as prophet became increasingly important to him. To satisfy his own religious conscience, to escape contending denominations, to reconcile his parents’ differences on religion, to please his new bride, he had to find a church that he could accept and that would accept him. Joseph Smith at this point became a religious seeker. But he began with a much stronger sense of alienation from society than most other seekers of his day. His poverty, his much disparaged career as a money digger, his court trial, and his expulsion from the Methodist church left him outside the usual religious and social circles. He would of necessity have to pursue a course radically different from that of the ordinary seeker.”

Cover and book design by Easton Design Group.
Published by Signature Books.
Signature Books is a registered trademark of
Signature Books, Inc., Salt Lake City.

copyright page
© 1989 by Signature Books, Inc. All rights reserved
Signature Books is a registered trademark of Signature Books, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hill, Marvin S.
Quest for refuge : the Mormon flight from American Pluralism
p. cm. Includes index.

1. Mormon Church—Northeastern States—History—19th century. 2. Mormon Church—Northwest, Old–History—19th century. 3. Smith, Joseph, 1805-1844. 4. Northeastern States—Church history. 5. Northwest, Old–Church history. 6. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—Northeastern States—History—19th century. 7. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—Northwest, Old–History—19th century. I. Title.

ISBN 0-941214-70-2
BX8615.NG9H55 1989
289.3'09'034–dc19 88-30213
CIP

On the half-title page and jacket: Original rendering of the weather vane on the Nauvoo Temple by William Weeks, circa 1843